Originally posted by RAIDER14
109K4 catches any plane that tries to run:aok
That depends upon altitude.
For example: a P-51D is tangling with several enemy fighters at 5k. He runs out of ammo but hasn't used his WEP yet. There's still a Co-e, Co-alt 109K-4 about 2,000 yards distant.
The P-51 pilot does a split-S and dives towards the deck, heading to the nearest friendly airfield. The 109K-4 follows.
That 109K-4 will NEVER catch the Mustang. In fact, the Mustang will be out of icon range in 5 minutes, just a dot on the horizon.
"Now wait a minute," you argue, "The 109K-4 is just as fast as the P-51D is on the deck and has 10 minutes of WEP!"
This is all true, but it still has no chance to catch the Mustang.
Why is that, you wonder?
Simple really. The 109K-4 decelerates to its max sustained level speed much faster than the P-51D. In short, the much cleaner, lower drag P-51 bleeds speed slower than the 109K-4.
This has been tested. Diving to the deck, speed 450 mph TAS, speed after 30 seconds at max power (WEP).
P-51D: 404 mph
109K-4: 397 mph
P-47N: 399 mph
Typhoon: 400 mph
F4U-4: 403 mph
190D-9: 407 mph
Tempest: 411 mph
Time to bleed down from 450 mph TAS to 376 mph TAS (190D-9 benchmark).
P-51D: 1:30.15
109K-4: 1:10.16
P-47N: 1:12.91
Typhoon: 1:33.94
F4U-4: 2:39.62
190D-9: 2:56.83
Tempest: Never slows below 387 mph....
So, the blazing fast 109K-4 loses ground to every one of the above. It can only begin to close in on them after 5 minutes of chasing, except the Dora, which out-runs the 109K with ease at sea level.
If I may stray off topic a bit...
I'm hoping that HTC someday offers 150 octane for the P-51s, perked to say 15 points. A P-51 pulling 75" of MAP is a monster... Climbs nearly as well as the 109K-4 (4,475 fpm at sea level), and shows near Tempest speed on the deck (383 mph).
Moreover, I also hope HTC takes a look at what the last drag model changes did to the P-51's flap drag, which increased to the point that the turn rate and radius are porked beyond recognition compared to earlier versions of AH2.
My regards,
Widewing